Presenting additional content items to a social networking system user based on receiving an indication of boredom

ABSTRACT

A social networking system presents content items to a user and determines if the user has less than at threshold level of interest in the presented content items based on one or more user interactions with the presented content items. For example, the social networking system determines the user has less than the threshold level of interest in the presented content items if at threshold number of requests for content are received within a time interval. If the user has less than the threshold level of interest in the presented content items, the social networking system identifies additional content items to present to the user, and may also identify content items previously presented to the user. Content is selected form the additional content items or from the previously presented content items and presented to the user.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/604,609, filed Jan. 23, 2015, which is incorporated by reference inits entirety.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to social networking systems, and inparticular to presenting content to users of a social networking system.

Users of a social networking system share their interests and engagewith other users of the social networking system by sharing orgenerating content items such as photographs, status updates, andplaying social games. While this allows users to easily exchangeinformation with other social networking system users, the amount ofinformation gathered from users is staggering. This causes a socialnetworking system to receive a large amount of information from usersdescribing a wide range of events ranging from events including recentmoves to a new city, graduations, births, engagements, marriages, andthe like, as well as more mundane content such as status messages,information about what music has been listened to by users, and recentcheck-in events at coffee shops.

A social networking system presents various content items to a userbased on the information it receives from other users. For example, thesocial networking system presents a user with content items describingvarious actions performed by other social networking system users.Because of the large amount of information received by a socialnetworking system, a large number of content items may be presented to auser. However, a user may become bored with a set of content itemspresented by the social networking system during a time period, forexample, because the user may have already consumed the availablecontent items. This may impair user experience, which may cause the userto interact less frequently with the social networking system.

SUMMARY

A social networking system presents content items to a user of thesocial networking system. For example, the social networking systempresents content items to the user via a news feed. Additionally, thesocial networking system maintains a view state identifying the contentitems and an order in which the identified content items are presentedto the user. For example, the news feed includes multiple positions,with each content item presented in a position, so a view stateidentifies a content item presented to the user and a position in thenews feed in which the content item was presented. Examples of contentitems presented by the social networking system include storiesdescribing actions of other social networking system users and sponsoredcontent, such as advertisements.

In one embodiment, content items are presented to a user of the socialnetworking system via an application executing on a client device. Forexample, the application presents a news feed including various contentitems selected by the social networking system to the user. Theapplication executing on the client device monitors interactions withthe client device received from the user and determines whether the userhas at least a threshold level of interest in the content itemspresented by the application. If the user performs an action thatsuggests less than the threshold level of interest in the content items,the application generates an indication of boredom associated with theuser. For example, if the application receives greater than a thresholdnumber of a specific type of interaction form the user (e.g., requeststo refresh content or requests to retrieve additional content) within athreshold period of time, the application generates an indication ofboredom associated with the user. If the application generates anindication of boredom associated with the user, the application sends arequest from the client device to the social networking system foradditional content to present to the user. Alternatively, the socialnetworking system, rather than the application, determines whether toassociate an indication of boredom associated with the user. Forexample, the social networking system associates an indication ofboredom associated with the user if the social networking systemreceives more than a threshold number of requests for additional contentitems to present to the user from the application or from the clientdevice within a threshold period of time.

If an indication of boredom is associated with the user, the socialnetworking system identifies additional content items to present to theuser or identifies content items previously selected for presentation tothe user but not displayed to the user to again present to the user. Forexample, the social networking system identifies newly generated contentitems and previously generated content items that were not previouslyselected to present to the user as additional content items to againpresent to the user via a news feed and generates scores for theadditional content items and the previously presented content items.Scores associated with additional content items or with previouslypresented content items may be modified based on an indication ofboredom associated with the user. Based on the scores the socialnetworking system ranks the additional content items and the previouslypresented content items and selects a set of the ranked content items topresent to the user via the news feed. Thus, the social networkingsystem provides alternative content items via the news feed presented toa user associated with an indication of boredom to encourage userinteraction with content presented via the news feed. For example, thesocial networking system identifies content items that were previouslyselected for presentation to the user, but not previously displayed (orotherwise presented) to the user and displays one or more of theidentified content items to the user by including the identified contentitems that were selected for presentation but not displayed in positionsof the news feed where they are displayed when the social networkingsystem determines the user has less than the threshold level of interestin the content items currently displayed to the user by the news feed.Hence, when the social networking system determines the user has lessthan the threshold level of interest in presented content items, thesocial networking system repositions content items selected forpresentation to the user so content items previously selected forpresentation but not presented to the user are presented to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment in which a socialnetworking system operates, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a social networking system, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an example of arranging content in a news feed to be served toa user of the social networking system, in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 is an interaction diagram of a social networking systemidentifying additional content items for a user based on an indicationof the user's lack of interest in presented content items, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a method for selecting content items for presentation to asocial networking system user requesting additional content based on anindication of the user's lack of interest in presented content items, inaccordance with an embodiment.

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustrationonly. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the followingdiscussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methodsillustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principlesdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 for a socialnetworking system 140. The system environment 100 shown by FIG. 1comprises one or more client devices 110, a network 120, one or morethird-party systems 130, and the social networking system 140. Inalternative configurations, different and/or additional components maybe included in the system environment 100. The embodiments describedherein can be adapted to online systems that are not social networkingsystems.

The client devices 110 are one or more computing devices capable ofreceiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data viathe network 120. In one embodiment, a client device 110 is aconventional computer system, such as a desktop or a laptop computer.Alternatively, a client device 110 may be a device having computerfunctionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobiletelephone, a smartphone or another suitable device. A client device 110is configured to communicate via the network 120. In one embodiment, aclient device 110 executes an application 115 allowing a user of theclient device 110 to interact with the social networking system 140. Inone example, the application 115 executing on the client device 110communicates instructions or requests for content items from the socialnetworking system 140 to modify content presented to a user of theclient device 110. As another example, the application 115 is a browserapplication 115 that receives web pages including content items from thesocial networking system 140 and presents the web pages to a user of theclient device 110. In another embodiment, the client device 110interacts with the social networking system 140 through an applicationprogramming interface (API) running on a native operating system of theclient device 110, such as IOS® or ANDROID™.

In addition to presenting content items to the user of the client device110, the application 115 may also monitor the various user interactionswith the client device 110 or with the application 115 and user inputreceived from the user with respect to content presented to the user bythe application 115. For example, the application 115 monitors when auser interacts with an interface element (e.g., a button) presented tothe user for requesting additional content from the social networkingsystem 140 or when the user performs a gesture or other interaction withthe client device 110 to request additional content from the socialnetworking system 140. Based on the monitored user interactions, theapplication 115 may determine one or more characteristic behaviorsassociated with the user. For example, based on the monitored userinteractions the application 115 determines whether the user has atleast a threshold level of interest in content presented by theapplication 115. In one embodiment, the application 115 may apply amodel to the monitored interactions that determines a level of interestin content presented by the application 115 based on types ofinteractions performed by the user, a frequency with which differenttypes of interactions are performed by the user, and other suitableinformation. Certain types of interactions by the user may occur whenthe user has less than a threshold level of interest in content beingpresented by the application 115. For example, the user may repeatedlyprovide an input to the application 115 to request additional or newcontent from the social networking system 140 within a given period oftime when the user has less than the threshold level of interest in thecontent presented by the application 115. If the application determinesthe user has less than the threshold level of interest in the contentpresented by the application 115, the application 115 may associate anindication of boredom with the user and communicate the indication ofboredom to the social networking system 140, as further described belowin conjunction with FIGS. 2, 4, and 5.

The client devices 110 are configured to communicate via the network120, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide areanetworks, using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In oneembodiment, the network 120 uses standard communications technologiesand/or protocols. For example, the network 120 includes communicationlinks using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples ofnetworking protocols used for communicating via the network 120 includemultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol(HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol(FTP). Data exchanged over the network 120 may be represented using anysuitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensiblemarkup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some of thecommunication links of the network 120 may be encrypted using anysuitable technique or techniques.

One or more third party systems 130 may be coupled to the network 120for communicating with the social networking system 140, which isfurther described below in conjunction with FIG. 2. In one embodiment, athird party system 130 is an application provider communicatinginformation describing applications 115 for execution by a client device110 or communicating data to client devices 110 for use by anapplication 115 executing on the client device. In other embodiments, athird party system 130 provides content or other information forpresentation via a client device 110. A third party system 130 may alsocommunicate information to the social networking system 140, such asadvertisements, content, or information about an application provided bythe third party system 130.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an architecture of the social networkingsystem 140. The social networking system 140 shown in FIG. 2 includes auser profile store 205, a content store 210, an action logger 215, anaction log 220, an edge store 225, news feed manager 230, anadvertisement (“ad”) request store 235, and a web server 240. In otherembodiments, the social networking system 140 may include additional,fewer, or different components than those described in conjunction withFIG. 2. Conventional components such as network interfaces, securityfunctions, load balancers, failover servers, management and networkoperations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure thedetails of the system architecture.

Each user of the social networking system 140 is associated with a userprofile, which is stored in the user profile store 205. A user profileincludes declarative information about the user that was explicitlyshared by the user and may also include profile information inferred bythe social networking system 140. In one embodiment, a user profileincludes multiple data fields, each describing one or more attributes ofthe corresponding social networking system user. Examples of informationstored in a user profile include biographic, demographic, and othertypes of descriptive information, such as work experience, educationalhistory, gender, hobbies or preferences, location and the like. A userprofile may also store other information provided by the user, forexample, images or videos. In certain embodiments, images of users maybe tagged with information identifying social networking system usersdisplayed in an image. A user profile in the user profile store 205 mayalso maintain references to actions by the corresponding user performedon content items in the content store 210 and stored in the action log220.

While user profiles in the user profile store 205 are frequentlyassociated with individuals, allowing individuals to interact with eachother via the social networking system 140, user profiles may also bestored for entities such as businesses or organizations. This allows anentity to establish a presence on the social networking system 140 forconnecting and exchanging content with other social networking systemusers. The entity may post information about itself, about its productsor provide other information to users of the social networking systemusing a brand page associated with the entity's user profile. Otherusers of the social networking system may connect to the brand page toreceive information posted to the brand page or to receive informationfrom the brand page. A user profile associated with the brand page mayinclude information about the entity itself, providing users withbackground or informational data about the entity.

The content store 210 stores objects that each represent various typesof content. Examples of content represented by an object include a pagepost, a status update, a photograph, a video, a link, a shared contentitem, a gaming application achievement, a check-in event at a localbusiness, a brand page, or any other type of content. Social networkingsystem users may create objects stored by the content store 210, such asstatus updates, photos tagged by users to be associated with otherobjects in the social networking system 140, events, groups orapplications. In some embodiments, objects are received from third-partyapplications or third-party applications separate from the socialnetworking system 140. In one embodiment, objects in the content store210 represent single pieces of content, or content “items.” Hence,social networking system users are encouraged to communicate with eachother by posting text and content items of various types of media to thesocial networking system 140 through various communication channels.This increases the amount of interaction of users with each other andincreases the frequency with which users interact within the socialnetworking system 140.

The action logger 215 receives communications about user actionsinternal to and/or external to the social networking system 140,populating the action log 220 with information about user actions.Examples of actions include adding a connection to another user, sendinga message to another user, uploading an image, reading a message fromanother user, viewing content associated with another user, andattending an event posted by another user. In addition, a number ofactions may involve an object and one or more particular users, so theseactions are associated with those users as well and stored in the actionlog 220.

The action log 220 may be used by the social networking system 140 totrack user actions on the social networking system 140, as well asactions on third party systems 130 that communicate information to thesocial networking system 140. Users may interact with various objects onthe social networking system 140, and information describing theseinteractions is stored in the action log 220. Examples of interactionswith objects include: commenting on posts, sharing links, andchecking-in to physical locations via a mobile device, accessing contentitems, and any other suitable interactions. Additional examples ofinteractions with objects on the social networking system 140 that areincluded in the action log 220 include: commenting on a photo album,communicating with a user, establishing a connection with an object,joining an event to a calendar, joining a group, creating an event,authorizing an application, using an application, expressing apreference for an object (“liking” the object) and engaging in atransaction. Additionally, the action log 220 may record a user'sinteractions with advertisements on the social networking system 140 aswell as with other applications operating on the social networkingsystem 140. In some embodiments, data from the action log 220 is used toinfer interests or preferences of a user, augmenting the interestsincluded in the user's user profile and allowing a more completeunderstanding of user preferences.

The action log 220 may also store user actions taken on a third partysystem 130, such as an external website, and communicated to the socialnetworking system 140. For example, an e-commerce website that primarilysells sporting equipment at bargain prices may recognize a user of asocial networking system 140 through a social plug-in enabling thee-commerce website to identify the user of the social networking system140. Because users of the social networking system 140 are uniquelyidentifiable, e-commerce websites, such as in the preceding example, maycommunicate information about a user's actions outside of the socialnetworking system 140 to the social networking system 140 forassociation with the user. Hence, the action log 220 may recordinformation about actions users perform on a third party system 130,including webpage viewing histories, advertisements that were engaged,purchases made, and other patterns from shopping and buying.

In one embodiment, the edge store 225 stores information describingconnections between users and other objects on the social networkingsystem 140 as edges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing usersto specify their relationships with other users. For example, users maygenerate edges with other users that parallel the users' real-liferelationships, such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth.Other edges are generated when users interact with objects in the socialnetworking system 140, such as expressing interest in a page on thesocial networking system 140, sharing a link with other users of thesocial networking system 140, and commenting on posts made by otherusers of the social networking system 140.

In one embodiment, an edge may include various features eachrepresenting characteristics of interactions between users, interactionsbetween users and objects, or interactions between objects. For example,features included in an edge describe rate of interaction between twousers, how recently two users have interacted with each other, the rateor amount of information retrieved by one user about an object, or thenumber and types of comments posted by a user about an object. Thefeatures may also represent information describing a particular objector user. For example, a feature may represent the level of interest thata user has in a particular topic, the rate at which the user logs intothe social networking system 140, or information describing demographicinformation about a user. Each feature may be associated with a sourceobject or user, a target object or user, and a feature value. A featuremay be specified as an expression based on values describing the sourceobject or user, the target object or user, or interactions between thesource object or user and target object or user; hence, an edge may berepresented as one or more feature expressions.

The edge store 225 also stores information about edges, such as affinityscores for objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or“affinities,” may be computed by the social networking system 140 overtime to approximate a user's interest an object or in another user inthe social networking system 140 based on the actions performed by theuser. A user's affinity may be computed by the social networking system140 over time to approximate a user's interest for an object, a topic,or another user in the social networking system 140 based on the actionsperformed by the user. Computation of affinity is further described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/978,265, filed on Dec. 23, 2010,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,254, filed on Nov. 30, 2012,U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/689,969, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, andU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,088, filed on Nov. 30, 2012,each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.Multiple interactions between a user and a specific object may be storedas a single edge in the edge store 225, in one embodiment.Alternatively, each interaction between a user and a specific object isstored as a separate edge. In some embodiments, connections betweenusers may be stored in the user profile store 205, or the user profilestore 205 may access the edge store 225 to determine connections betweenusers.

In one embodiment, the social networking system 140 identifies news feedstories and other content items, such as advertisements, likely to be ofinterest to a user through a “news feed” presented to the user. A newsfeed story presented to a user describes an action taken by anadditional user connected to the user and identifies the additionaluser. Additionally, a news feed story may describe objects representedin the social networking system 140, such as an image, a video, acomment from a user, a status message, an external link, contentgenerated by the social networking system 140, an application, a game,or other types of content items maintained by the content store 210. Insome embodiments, a news feed story describing an action performed by auser may be accessible to users who are not connected to the user thatperformed the action. The news feed manager 230 may generate stories forpresentation to a user based on information in the action log 220 and inthe edge store 225 or may select candidate news feed stories from thecontent store 210. One or more of the candidate news feed stories areselected and presented to a user by the news feed manager 230.

The news feed manager 230 generates the news feed stories forpresentation in a news feed, selects content items for presentation viathe news feed, and communicates the news feed to one or more clientdevices 110 for presentation to users via the application 115, forexample. An example of generating a news feed is further described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/031,453, filed on Sep. 19, 2013,which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In oneembodiment, the news feed manager 230 receives a request to present oneor more news feed stories to a social networking system user from theapplication 115 executing on a client device 110 and accesses one ormore of the user profile store 205, the content store 210, the actionlog 220, and the edge store 225 to retrieve information associated withthe user by the social networking system 140. For example, contentitems, such as news feed stories, advertisements, or other data,associated with additional users connected to the user are retrieved.The retrieved content items are analyzed by the news feed manager 230 toidentify candidate content items, which include content having at leasta threshold likelihood of being relevant to the user. For example,content items associated with additional users not connected to the useror content items associated with additional users for which the user hasless than a threshold affinity are discarded as candidate content items.Based on various criteria, the news feed manager 230 selects one or moreof the candidate content items for presentation to the identified user.

In various embodiments, the news feed manager 230 presents contentitems, such as news feed stories, to a user through a news feedincluding a plurality of content items (e.g., news feed stories,advertisements, etc.) selected for presentation to the user. In someembodiments, the news feed includes a plurality of positions that areeach configured to present a content item, such as a news feed story oran advertisement. The news feed may include a limited number of newsfeed stories or may include a complete set of candidate news feedstories. For example, the number of news feed stories included in a newsfeed may be determined in part by a user preference included in userprofile store 205. The news feed manager 230 may also determine an orderin which selected news feed stories are presented via the news feed. Forexample, the news feed manager 230 determines that a user has a highestaffinity for a specific user and increases the number of news feedstories in the news feed associated with the specific user or modifiespositions in the news feed where news feed stories associated with thespecific user are presented. In one embodiment, content items presentedvia the news feed are presented in reverse chronological order based ontimestamps associated with the content items.

The news feed manager 230 may also account for actions by a userindicating a preference for types of content items and selects contentitems having the same, or similar, types for presentation to the user.Additionally, the news feed manager 230 may analyze news feed storiesreceived by the social networking system 140 from various users toobtain information about user preferences or actions. Similarly, thenews feed manager 230 may analyze actions associated with a user, orwith additional users connected to the user, to identify userpreferences for content items. This may be used to refine subsequentselection of content items for presentation to the user via a news feed.

In addition to selecting news feed stories, the news feed manager 230may select one or more advertisements for presentation to a user. Forexample, a news feed presented to a user may include one or moreadvertisements as well as news feed stories. To select news feed storiesor advertisements for presentation via a news feed, the news feedmanager determines scores for the advertisements and for the news feedstories. In one example, a score for an advertisement is based at leastin part on a bid amount associated with the advertisement, a position inthe news feed in which the advertisement is to be presented, and anexpected amount of interaction with the advertisement. Similarly, ascore for a news feed story is based at least in part on an expectedamount of interaction with the news feed story and a position in thenews feed in which the news feed story is to be presented. Based on thescores associated with news feed stories and advertisements, the newsfeed manager 230 selects one or more content items for presentation. Forexample, the news feed manager 230 ranks news feed stories andadvertisements based on their scores and selects news feed stories oradvertisements for presentation based on the ranking.

Additionally, the news feed manager 230 records, for each user on thesocial networking system 140, a “view state” of the content items thathave been presented to each user and the order in whichpreviously-presented content items were presented to a user. In oneexample, a view state associated with a user associates an identifier ofa content item presented to the user with a position in a news feed inwhich the content item was presented. The view state at a particulartime may be stored in a view state object associated with the user inthe user profile store 205 or in the content store 210. Based on a viewstate associated with a user, the news feed manager 230 may refinesubsequent selection of content items for presentation to the user.

In one embodiment, the news feed manager 230 captures a view state ofthe news feed for a user viewing the news feed (a “viewing user”) basedon actions associated with the viewing user. For example, a view stateis captured when the viewing user initiates viewing of a news feed bylogging into a social networking system 140. Content items (e.g., newsfeed stories or advertisements) are provided to the user via the newsfeed, and as content items are presented to the viewing user, a viewstate associated with the user is modified. The news feed manager 230may update a view state associated with a viewing user after eachcontent item is presented to the viewing user and store the updated viewstate in the content store 210 or in the user profile store 205. In oneembodiment, the view state is updated when the viewing user'sinteraction with the social networking system 140 expires, such as whenthe user logs out of the social networking system 140. When the viewinguser ceases interaction with content items presented by the socialnetworking system 140, the view state associated with the viewing user,which includes an order in which content items were presented andindications of whether various content items were displayed to theviewing user, is stored in the content store 210, and is associated withthe user's user profile stored in the user profile store 205.

Based on the view state describing content items presented to the userof the news feed presented to the user the news feed manager 230 maydetermine that the user is not ready to be presented with additionalcontent items. For example, if a user starts a new session interactingwith the social networking system 140 but does not navigate throughcontent items presented via a news feed, the news feed manager 230infers that the user has not read or has not been displayed contentitems presented via the news feed. If the user later starts anothersession interacting with the social networking system 140, thepreviously presented content items are again presented to the user basedon a view state associated with the user.

The news feed manager 230 may receive a request for an updated orrefreshed news feed, or for additional content to be included in thenews feed from a user viewing the news feed (a “viewing user”) via anapplication 115 executing on a client device 110. The application mayinclude an indication of boredom in the request if the application 115determines the user has less than a threshold level of interest incontent items presented via the newsfeed. If the request includes anindication of boredom, the news feed manager 230 modifies selection ofcontent items for presentation via the news feed. For example, the newsfeed manager 230 determines content items (e.g., news feed stories andadvertisements) previously selected for presentation to the viewing userbut not displayed to the viewing user, as further described below inconjunction with FIG. 5, for presentation. Additional content items thathave not previously been presented to the viewing user are alsoidentified, with content selected for presentation from the previouslypresented content items and from the additional content items as furtherdescribed below in conjunction with FIG. 5. For example, the news feedmanager 230 generates scores associated with additional content itemsand with previously presented content items and selects content forpresentation to the viewing user based on the scores. The news feedmanager 230 may use information associated with the viewing user by thesocial networking system 140 when selecting content from the previouslypresented content items and the additional content items. For example,if an indication of boredom is received along with the request foradditional content, the news feed the news feed manager 230 may alterselection of content from the additional content items and thepreviously presented content items as further described below inconjunction with FIG. 5.

The news feed manager 230 may provide previously presented content itemsin positions below the additional news feed stories for presentation tothe viewing user based on information received from the application 115executing on the client device 110 associated with the viewing userindicating that the previously presented content items were displayed tothe viewing user indicating that the viewing user has less than athreshold level of interest in the previously presented content items.Accordingly, the viewing user is initially presented with the additionalcontent items, which may be ordered based at least in part on theirscores, and then presented with previously presented content items.Interactions between the viewing user and the application 115 executingon the client device 110 are used to determine if the viewing user hasless than the threshold level of interest in the previously presentedcontent items. Examples of user interactions for determining the viewinguser's level of interest in previously presented content items include:the viewing user accessing an interface element presented by theapplication 115 to retrieve additional content items, a gesture receivedby the application 115 to retrieve additional content items (e.g., ascroll action), interactions with content items by the viewing user, anda length of time the viewing user spends viewing content items presentedvia the client device 110. Determination of a level of interest inpresented content items is further described below in conjunction withFIGS. 4 and 5.

One or more advertisement requests (“ad requests”) are included in thead request store 235. An advertisement request includes advertisementcontent (also referred to as an “advertisement”) and a bid amount. Theadvertisement content is text, image, audio, video, or any othersuitable data presented to a user. In various embodiments, theadvertisement content also includes a landing page specifying a networkaddress to which a user is directed when the advertisement is accessed.The bid amount is associated with an ad request by an advertiser and isused to determine an expected value, such as monetary compensation,provided by an advertiser to the social networking system 140 ifadvertisement content in the ad request is presented to a user, if theadvertisement content in the ad request receives a user interaction whenpresented, or based on any other suitable condition. For example, thebid amount specifies a monetary amount that the social networking system140 receives from the advertiser if advertisement content included in anad request is displayed and the expected value is determined bymultiplying the bid amount by a probability of the advertisement contentbeing accessed by a user.

Additionally, an advertisement request may include one or more targetingcriteria specified by the advertiser. Targeting criteria included in anadvertisement request specify one or more characteristics of userseligible to be presented with advertisement content in the advertisementrequest. For example, targeting criteria are used to identify usershaving user profile information, edges or actions satisfying at leastone of the targeting criteria. Hence, targeting criteria allow anadvertiser to identify users having specific characteristics,simplifying subsequent distribution of content to different users.

In one embodiment, targeting criteria may specify actions or types ofconnections between a user and another user or object of the socialnetworking system 140. Targeting criteria may also specify interactionsbetween a user and objects performed external to the social networkingsystem 140, such as on a third party system 130. For example, targetingcriteria identifies users that have taken a particular action, such assending a message to another user, using an application, joining agroup, leaving a group, joining an event, generating an eventdescription, purchasing or reviewing a product or service using anonline marketplace, requesting information from a third-party system130, or any other suitable action. Including actions in targetingcriteria allows advertisers to further refine users eligible to bepresented with content from an advertisement request. As anotherexample, targeting criteria identifies users having a connection toanother user or object or having a particular type of connection toanother user or object.

The web server 240 links the social networking system 140 via thenetwork 120 to the one or more client devices 110, as well as to the oneor more third party systems 130. The web server 140 serves web pages, aswell as other web-related content, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML and soforth. The web server 240 may receive and route messages between thesocial networking system 140 and the client device 110, for example,instant messages, queued messages (e.g., email), text messages, shortmessage service (SMS) messages, or messages sent using any othersuitable messaging technique. A user may send a request to the webserver 240 via the application 115 for additional content items to bepresented to the user via the application 115. Additionally, the webserver 240 may provide application programming interface (API)functionality to send data directly to native client device operatingsystems, such as IOS®, ANDROID™, WEBOS® or BlackberryOS.

Example of Providing Additional Content in a News Feed

In various embodiments, the social networking system 140 presentscontent items, including news feed stories and advertisements, to a uservia a news feed. As the user navigates through a news feed, the user mayfinish viewing content items of interest to the user presented via thenews feed and request additional content items for presentation.Alternatively, the user may have less than a threshold level of interestin content items presented by the news feed and may request presentationof additional content items via the news feed. To increase user interestwith presented news feed stories or advertisements, the socialnetworking system 140 may present content items previously selected forpresentation to the user, such as content items not displayed to theuser, or additional content items that have not been presented to theuser via the newsfeed if the social networking system 140 receives anindication the user has less than a threshold level of interest incontent items presented by the news feed.

FIG. 3 shows an example of arranging content in a news feed forpresentation to a social networking system user. As used herein,“content items” include news feed stories, advertisements, or anycombination thereof. In the example of FIG. 3, a news feed 310 presentedto a social networking system user includes news feed stories andadvertisements; however, in other embodiments, other types of contentitems may be presented via the news feed 310. The news feed 310 includesmultiple content items 315A, 315B, 315C, 315D, 315E, 315F, 315G(individually and collectively referred to using reference number 315).Each content item 315 is presented in a position 305 of the news feed310 representing a location in the news feed 310 in which the contentitem 315 is presented relative to locations in the news feed 310 inwhich the other content items 315 are presented. In the example of FIG.3, content item 315A is presented in position 1, content item 315B ispresented in position 2, and content items 315C, 315D, 315E, 315F, and315G are respectively, presented in positions 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. In thisexample, a user viewing the news feed 310 via the application 115executing on a client device 110 may scroll or navigate through the newsfeed 310 to view content items presented in positions lower thanposition 7.

In FIG. 3, the social networking system 140, or the applicationexecuting on the client device 110, determines if the user has less thana threshold level of interest in the content items 315 presented via thenews feed 310. The application 115 may receive a variety of userinteractions associated with the news feed 310 or content items 315presented to the user via the news feed 310 and determines the user'slevel of interest in the content items 315 based on the receivedinteractions. For example, the application 115 determines the user hasless than the threshold level of interest in the content items 315 inthe news feed 310 if the application receives greater than a thresholdnumber of interactions to refresh 330 the news feed 310 from the userwithin a threshold period of time or if the application 115 receives atleast a threshold number of interactions requesting additional contentitems to include in the news feed 310 within a threshold period of time.For example, the application 115 determines the user has less than thethreshold level of interest in the content items 315 included in thenews feed 310 if the user holds and drags down the news feed 310 greaterthan a threshold number of times to refresh 330 the news feed 310 or torequest additional content items to be presented in the news feed 310within a threshold time interval while viewing the news feed 310 via theapplication 115. In another example, the application 115 determines theuser has less than the threshold level of interest in the content items315 presented by the news feed 310 if the user accesses an interfaceelement of the application 115 that communicates a request foradditional content to the social networking system 140 greater than athreshold number of times within a time interval. If the application 115determines the user has less than the threshold level of interest in thecontent items 315, the application includes an indication of boredom ina request for content communicated to the social networking system.Alternatively, the social networking system 140 determines the user hasless than the threshold level of interest in content items 315 in thenews feed 310 based on information received by the social networkingsystem 140. For example, the social networking system 140 determines theuser has less than a threshold level of interest in the content items315 in the news feed 310 if more than a threshold number of requests foradditional content are received form the application 115 presenting thenews feed 310 within a threshold period of time.

If the social networking system 140 determines the user has less thanthe threshold level of interest in the content items 315 presented bythe news feed 310, the social networking system 140 includes additionalcontent items in the news feed 310 in positions 305 higher thanpositions 305 of the content items 315 previously presented to the userin the news feed 310. In the example of FIG. 3, the social networkingsystem 140 includes additional content items 315H, 315I and 315J inpositions 1, 2 and 3 of the news feed 305, which were not previouslypresented to the user, which mores presentation of previously presentedcontent items 315A, 315B, 315C, and 315D to positions 4, 5, 6, and 7,respectively, in the news feed 305. Content items 315H, 315I, 315J maybe content items 315 previously presented to the user that the user didnot view or may be content items that have not been presented to theuser. Selection of content items based on a determination the user hasless than a threshold level of interest in the content items is furtherdescribed below in conjunction with FIG. 5. Content items 315E, 315F,and 315G are not shown in news feed 310 as they have been moved topositions below that of position 7. Thus, the social networking system140 provides the user with additional content items 315 to interact withif the user has less than a threshold level of interest in content items315 presented via the news feed 310.

Selecting Content Items and Advertisements Based on an Indication ofBoredom

FIG. 4 is an interaction diagram of one embodiment of a socialnetworking system 140 identifying additional content items for a userbased on an indication of the user's lack of interest in presentedcontent items. As used herein, “content items” may be news feed stories,advertisements, or any other type of content. An application 115executing on a client device 110 presents content from the socialnetworking system 140 to the user and monitors user interaction with theapplication 115. Based on the monitored interactions, the application115 determines a level of interest in presented content for the user ordetermines 405 if the user's level of interest in presented content isless than a threshold level. In one example, the application 115determines 405 the user has less than the threshold level of interest inpresented content items if the application 115 receives at least athreshold number of user interactions requesting presentation ofadditional content within a threshold period of time. For example, theuser interacts with an interface element of the application 115 torequest additional content or performs one or more gestures captured bythe application 115 to request additional content, and the application115 determines 405 the user has less than the threshold level ofinterest in content items presented by the application 115. In anotherexample, the application 115 monitors the user's navigation throughcontent items presented by the application 115. For example, if the usernavigates through content items (e.g., scrolls through content items)for at least a threshold length of time without pausing for a thresholdamount of time, the application 115 determines 405 the user has lessthan the threshold level of interest in the presented content items.

In one embodiment, the application 115 monitors user actions andgestures received via one or more input devices or other sensors of theclient device 110 on which the application 115 is executed. For example,the application 115 may receive information describing the user's eyeposition based on images captured by an image capture device of theclient device 110. The application 115 may process the images todetermine if a user's eyes are focused on a display device of the clientdevice 110. If the user's eyes are not focused on the display devicewhen the news feed is presented by the application 115 for at least athreshold period of time, the application 115 determines 405 the userhas less than the threshold level of interest in the presented contentitems. In another example, the application 115 identifies gesturesperformed by the user and captured by an input device (e.g., atouchscreen) of the client device 110 and determine 405 whether the userhas less than the threshold level of interest in the presented contentitems based on the gestures. For example, if the user performs adownward swiping gesture via an input device more than a thresholdnumber of times within a given time period, the application 115determines 405 the user has less than the threshold level of interest inthe presented content items.

Alternatively, the social networking system 140 may independentlydetermine 405 whether the user has less than the threshold level ofinterest in the presented content items based on data received by thesocial networking system 140. For example, the social networking system140 determines 405 the user has less than the threshold level ofinterest in presented content items based on a number of requests foradditional content received from the application 115 within a specifiedtime interval. If the number of requests for additional content receivedfrom the user within the specified time interval equals or exceeds athreshold number, the social networking system 140 determines 405 theuser has less than the threshold level of interest in the presentedcontent items.

The application sends 410 a request to the social networking system 140for additional content to include in the news feed. If the application115 determines 405 the user has less than the threshold level ofinterest in the presented content items, the request includes anindication of boredom associated with the user. When the socialnetworking system 140 receives the request, the social networking systemidentifies 415 additional content items as well as content itemspreviously presented to the user, as further described below inconjunction with FIG. 5. The additional content items may includecontent items that have not been presented to the user (e.g., newlygenerated content items, newly received content items) as well aspreviously generated content items that were not previously selected forpresentation to the user. The social networking system selects 420content from the additional content items and the previously presentedcontent items while accounting for the indication of boredom included inthe request, as further described below in conjunction with FIG. 5.

The social networking system 140 transmits 425 the selected content tothe application 115, which presents 430 the selected content. Forexample, the social networking system 140 returns a web page includingthe selected content in a news feed, and the application 115 presents430 the web page to the user. Alternatively, the social networkingsystem 140 transmits 425 content for presentation by the application 115in a news feed generated by the application 115. The application 115 maypresent 430 the selected content items in positions above the contentitems that were previously displayed to the user via the news feed toencourage the user to interact with new content.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method for selectingcontent items for presentation to a social networking system userrequesting additional content based on an indication of the user's lackof interest in presented content items. As used herein, “content items”may be news feed stories, advertisements, or any other type of content.The method described in conjunction with FIG. 5 may include differentand/or additional steps in some embodiments, and the steps described inconjunction with FIG. 5 may be performed in different orders than theorder depicted in FIG. 5 in various embodiments.

The social networking system 140 maintains 505 a view state for a socialnetworking system user. The view state identifies content itemspresented to the user and an order in which the content items werepresented to the user. For example, the view state associates contentitem identifiers with positions in a news feed in which the contentitems were presented. As described above, content items include newsfeed stories and advertisements, as well as any other suitable type ofcontent. For purposes of illustration, FIG. 5 describes presentation ofcontent items via a news feed, but in other embodiments the contentitems may be presented using any suitable format. In one embodiment, theview state for a user is stored in the content store 210 and isassociated with the user's user profile stored in the user profile store205. The view state associated with the user may be modified each timecontent items are presented to the user by the social networking system140. In some embodiments, the view state is maintained 505 over time tostore the order in which content items have been presented to the uservia a news feed or other format. Associating a view state with a userprofile maintained by the social networking system 140 allows the viewstate to account for presentation of content items to the user viamultiple client devices 110, allowing the user to view a consistentordering of content items when accessing content from the socialnetworking system 140 via different client devices 110.

In one embodiment, the social networking system 140 determines 510whether the user has less than a threshold level of interest in contentpresented by the social networking system 140. For example, the socialnetworking system 140 receives a request for content from a clientdevice 110 associated with the user that includes an indication ofboredom associated with the user. An application associated with thesocial networking system 140 and executing on a client device 110 maymonitor interactions of the user with the application 115 to determinewhether the user has less than a threshold level of interest in thecontent presented by the social networking system 140, as describedabove in conjunction with FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. In some embodiments, theapplication 115 includes an indication of boredom in a request forcontent sent to the social networking system 140 if the application 115determines the user has less than the threshold level of interest inpresented content. The social networking system 140 determines 510 theuser identified by the request has less than the threshold level ofinterest in the content if the indication of boredom is identified fromthe request.

Alternatively, the social networking system 140 determines 510 whetherthe user has less than the threshold level of interest in the presentedcontent items independent from the application 115 based on informationreceived from the application and associated with the user.

For example, the social networking system 140 determines 510 whether theuser has at least the threshold level of interest in the content basedon a number of requests for additional content associated with the userreceived from the application 115 or based on a frequency with whichrequests for content associated with the user are received from theapplication 115. If the social networking system 140 receives at least athreshold number of requests for additional content or receives requestsfor additional content at greater than a threshold frequency, the socialnetworking system 140 determines 510 the user has less than thethreshold level of interest in the presented content.

If the social networking system 140 determines 510 the user has lessthan the threshold level of interest in the presented content, thesocial networking system identifies 515 one or more additional contentitems that were not previously presented to the user. For example, newnews feed stories, or other content items, are generated by the newsfeed manager 230 and maintained in a queue for presentation to the user.One or more news feed stories, or other content items, may be identified515 from this queue as additional content items to include in theupdated news feed. Identification of news feed stories is furtherdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/031,453, filed on Sep.19, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Insome embodiments, one or more of the additional content items areidentified 515 based on changes in content items received or modified bythe social networking system 140 after a time associated with a viewstate associated with the user that identifies content items displayedto the user. A change in content items from a view state associated withthe user may indicate, for example, a new content item or a previouslypresented content item associated with a recent interaction by anadditional user of the social networking system 140 connected to theuser (e.g., an indication of preference for the previously presentedcontent item, a comment associated with the previously presented contentitem, sharing the previously presented content item with a user). In oneexample, content items that were previously received but not selected tobe presented to the user are identified 515. Additionally, one or moreadvertisements included in the ad request store 235 and not previouslypresented to the user may be identified 515 as additional content items.For example, advertisements associated with one or more targetingcriteria satisfied by the user and not previously presented to the userare identified 515 from the ad request store 235 as additional contentitems.

In addition to identifying additional 515 content items not previouslypresented to the user, the social networking system also identifies 520one or more content items previously presented to the user. For example,news feed stories or other content items previously identified forpresentation to the user but not displayed to the user by a clientdevice 110 are identified 520. As another example, the social networkingsystem identifies 520 an advertisement previously selected forpresentation to the user specified by the received request, such as anadvertisement previously presented to the user but with which the userdid not interact or that was not displayed to the user. To identify 520one or more content items previously presented to the user, the socialnetworking system 140 determines if content items have been displayed tothe user identified as presented to the user by the view stateassociated with the user. Content items identified as presented (e.g.,displayed) to the user by the view state are identified 520 along withpositions in the news feed in which the content items were presentedfrom the view state.

The social networking system 140 scores 525 the additional content itemsand the identified one or more previously presented content items. Thesocial networking system 140 may differently score 525 the additionalnews feed stories, the previously presented news feed stories, theadditional advertisements, and the previously presented advertisements.In one embodiment, the social networking system 140 scores 525 theadditional news feed stories and the previously presented news feedstories based on an expected amount of user interaction with a news feedstory. The expected amount of interaction may be based on an organicvalue associated with a news feed story; determining an organic valueassociated with a news feed story is further described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/978,265, filed on Dec. 23, 2010, and in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/545,266, filed on Jul. 10, 2012, each ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, the social networking system 140 scores 525 the additionaladvertisements and the previously presented advertisements based atleast in part on a bid amount associated with the advertisements and anexpected amount of user interaction with the advertisement. For example,an expected value is determined for an advertisement based on a bidamount associated with the advertisement and a likelihood of the userinteracting with the advertisement. The score for the advertisement isdetermined based at least in part on the expected value. In someembodiments, the additional content items and the previously presentedcontent items are differently scored 525. For example, an additionalcost is associated with scoring 525 previously selected but notdisplayed content items based on again presenting the previouslyselected but not displayed content items in a different position in thenews feed; determining a score associated with again presentingpreviously selected for presentation but not displayed content itemsbased on the position of the content items in the news feed is furtherdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/341,680, filed on Jul.25, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The social networking system 140 may modify or alter the scoring 525 ofthe additional content items and previously presented content itemsbased on determining the user has less than the threshold level ofinterest in the presented content items. In one embodiment, the socialnetworking system 140 scores 525 certain types of content items higherif the user has less than the threshold level of interest in thepresented content items. For example, the social networking system 140increases scores of news feed stories relative to advertisements if theuser has less than the threshold level of interest in the presentedcontent items. As another example, the social networking system 140increases scores of additional content items relative to scores ofpreviously presented content items if the user has less than thethreshold level of interest in the presented content items.Alternatively, if the user has less than the threshold level of interestin the presented content items, the social networking system modifiesthresholds used to identify content items to score 525. In someembodiments, affinity between the user and news feed stories previouslyprovided to a client device 110 but not presented to the user or betweenadditional users associated with news feed stories previously providedto a client device 110 for presentation to the user but not displayed tothe user are compared to a threshold score, with previously presentedcontent items for which the user has at least a threshold affinityscored 525. The social networking system 140 may modify the thresholdscore on determining 510 the user has less than the threshold level ofaffinity for the content items. For example, the social networkingsystem reduces a threshold affinity between the user and a previouslypresented news feed story used to identify the previously presented newsfeed story for scoring 525 or reduces a threshold affinity between theuser and an additional content item to identify the additional contentitem for scoring 525.

Based at least in part on the scores, the social networking system 140selects content from the additional content items or from the previouslypresented content items for presentation to the user. In one embodiment,the additional content items and the previously presented content itemsare ranked 530 based on their associated scores. In one embodiment,scores associated with additional news feed stories, scores associatedwith previously presented news feed stories, scores associated withadditional advertisements, and scores associated with previouslypresented advertisements are converted into a common unit ofmeasurement, so advertisements and news feed stories are ranked 530together in a single ranking. Ranking both news feed stories andadvertisements is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/545,266, filed on Jul. 10, 2012, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety. Alternatively, news feed stories are ranked530 based on their associated scores and advertisements are separatelyranked 530 based on their associated scores.

Based on the ranking, one or more content items are selected andprovided 535 to an application 115 executing on a client device 110 forpresentation to the user. For example, content items having at least athreshold position in the ranking or having at least a threshold scoreare selected and provided 535 to the application 115 executing on theclient device 110 for presentation to the user. In some embodiments, thesocial networking system 140 modifies the threshold position orthreshold ranking for selecting content items if the user is determinedto have less than the threshold level of interest in the presentedcontent items (e.g., the social networking system 140 lowers a thresholdscore or a threshold position in the ranking to increase the number ofcontent items selected). If a content item previously presented to theuser is selected for subsequent presentation, the content item isremoved from its original position in the news feed and provided 535 forpresentation in an alternative position in the news feed. In oneembodiment, content items having at least a threshold position in theranking are provided in the order determined by the ranking, whileremaining content items are presented in a chronological order, such asreverse chronological order. After the new content items are provided535 to the application 115 executing on the client device 110, the viewstate for the user is updated to include the modified ordering of thecontent items provided to the user in the news feed to indicate thepositions in the news feed in which the content items are presented. Theupdated view state is stored in the content store 210 and associatedwith a user profile of the user.

SUMMARY

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for thepurpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe patent rights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in therelevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations arepossible in light of the above disclosure.

Some portions of this description describe embodiments in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance oftheir work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally, computationally, or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalentelectrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has alsoproven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operationsas modules, without loss of generality. The described operations andtheir associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware,hardware, or any combinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments may also relate to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computingdevice selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer programstored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may becoupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systemsreferred to in the specification may include a single processor or maybe architectures employing multiple processor designs for increasedcomputing capability.

Embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by a computingprocess described herein. Such a product may comprise informationresulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and mayinclude any embodiment of a computer program product or other datacombination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the patent rights. It istherefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limited not bythis detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of thepatent rights, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:presenting an initial set of content items in a feed of content itemsfor display on a client device to a user; determining that the user hasless than a threshold level of interest in the initial set of contentitems in the feed; identifying additional content items to provide tothe user in the feed based on determining that the user has less thanthe threshold level of interest; selecting one or more content items ofthe identified additional content items; and updating the feed ofcontent items to include the selected one or more content items of theidentified additional content items to the user in the feed with atleast a subset of the initial set of content items.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining that theuser has less than the threshold level of interest includes: monitoringuser navigation through content items presented in the feed; anddetermining that the user has not paused during the user navigation forat least a threshold period of time.
 3. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein determining that the user has less than thethreshold level of interest includes: receiving information describingan eye position of the user based on one or more images captured by animage capture device of the client device; determining that the user isnot focused on a display device of the client device based on the eyeposition while the feed is presented for at least a threshold period oftime.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determiningthat the user has less than the threshold level of interest includes:receiving a threshold number of user interactions with the feed within aspecified time interval.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4,wherein the threshold number of user interactions correspond to requestsfor additional content within the specified time interval via a userinterface of the client device.
 6. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 5, wherein the requests for additional content correspond to adownward swiping gesture via the user interface of the client device. 7.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifyingadditional content items to provide to the user in the feed includes:identifying a first set of newly generated content items that have notbeen presented to the user, a second set of previously generated contentitems that were not previously selected for presentation to the user,and a third set of previously selected content items that have beenpresented to the user; determining a score for each content item in thefirst set, the second set, and the third set of content items; modifyingscores of the second set of content items by applying an additional costto the previously generated content items that were not previouslyselected for presentation to the user; and selecting the one or morecontent items of the identified additional content items based at leastin part on the determined scores.
 8. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein identifying the additional content items to provide tothe user in the feed comprises: Identifying one or more content itemsreceived by an online system during a time interval between a currenttime and a time associated with the user previously viewing contentitems presented in the feed.
 9. A computer-implemented methodcomprising: presenting, via an application associated with an onlinesystem, an initial set of content items for display on a client devicein a feed of content items; receiving, via the client device,information indicating less than a threshold level of interest in theinitial set of content items presented in the feed; identifyingadditional content items to provide to a user in the feed based on thereceived information indicating less than the threshold level ofinterest; selecting one or more content items of the identifiedadditional content items; and updating the feed of content items toinclude the selected one or more content items of the identifiedadditional content items to the user in the feed with at least a subsetof the initial set of content items.
 10. The computer-implemented methodof claim 9, wherein receiving information indicating less than thethreshold level of interest comprises: receiving a plurality of requestsfor content to provide to the user from the client device; anddetermining the user has less than the threshold level of interest inthe initial set of content items in response to a number of the receivedplurality of requests during a time interval equals or exceeds athreshold value.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, whereinreceiving information indicating less than the threshold level ofinterest comprises: identifying an indication of boredom associated witha user of the client device and included in a request for contentreceived from the application, the application being configured todetermine the threshold level of interest in the initial set of contentitems based on a number of interactions requesting content from the userwithin a threshold period of time.
 12. The computer-implemented methodof claim 11, wherein an interaction requesting content is selected froma group consisting of: interacting with an interface element to requestcontent, performing a gesture to request content, navigating throughpresented content, and any combination thereof.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein determining that theuser has less than the threshold level of interest includes: monitoringuser navigation through content items presented in the feed; anddetermining that the user has not paused during the user navigation forat least a threshold period of time.
 14. The computer-implemented methodof claim 9, wherein determining that the user has less than thethreshold level of interest includes: receiving information describingan eye position of the user based on one or more images captured by animage capture device of the client device; determining that the user isnot focused on a display device of the client device based on the eyeposition while the feed is presented for at least a threshold period oftime.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein theidentifying additional content items to provide to the user in the feedincludes: identifying a first set of newly generated content items thathave not been presented to the user, a second set of previouslygenerated content items that were not previously selected forpresentation to the user, and a third set of previously selected contentitems that have been presented to the user; determining a score for eachcontent item in the first set, the second set, and the third set ofcontent items; modifying scores of the second set of content items byapplying an additional cost to the previously generated content itemsthat were not previously selected for presentation to the user; andselecting the one or more content items of the identified additionalcontent items based at least in part on the determined scores.
 16. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: present aninitial set of content items in a feed of content items for display on aclient device to a user; determine that the user has less than athreshold level of interest in the initial set of content items in thefeed; identify additional content items to provide to the user in thefeed based on determining that the user has less than the thresholdlevel of interest; select one or more content items of the identifiedadditional content items; and update the feed of content items toinclude the selected one or more content items of the identifiedadditional content items to the user in the feed with at least a subsetof the initial set of content items.
 17. The non-transitory computerreadable storage medium of claim 16, wherein determining that the userhas less than the threshold level of interest includes: monitoring usernavigation through content items presented in the feed; and determiningthat the user has not paused during the user navigation for at least athreshold period of time.
 18. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein determining that the user has lessthan the threshold level of interest includes: receiving informationdescribing an eye position of the user based on one or more imagescaptured by an image capture device of the client device; determiningthat the user is not focused on a display device of the client devicebased on the eye position while the feed is presented for at least athreshold period of time.
 19. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium claim 16, wherein the identifying additional contentitems to provide to the user in the feed includes: identifying a firstset of newly generated content items that have not been presented to theuser, a second set of previously generated content items that were notpreviously selected for presentation to the user, and a third set ofpreviously selected content items that have been presented to the user;determining a score for each content item in the first set, the secondset, and the third set of content items; modifying scores of the secondset of content items by applying an additional cost to the previouslygenerated content items that were not previously selected forpresentation to the user; and selecting the one or more content items ofthe identified additional content items based at least in part on thedetermined scores.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein identifying the additional content items toprovide to the user in the feed comprises: identifying one or morecontent items received by an online system during a time intervalbetween a current time and a time associated with the user previouslyviewing content items presented in the feed.